An Eventful Year
by The Entity
Summary: High School AU. Sophomore year tends to be the most relaxed time of high school, you're not new, but you're also not about to leave, it's peaceful for the students. Or rather it would be if not for drama, love interests, secrets, and the teenage angst that couples with every high school. Nobody ever expects any of this though, Armin least of all. Story begins in the second chapter.
1. Introduction

**Introduction**

**Hello to new and past readers alike. Like my other fanfic this first 'chapter' is technically just an introduction running through a number of things. So if you've read the introduction to my other fic, then skip over the next paragraph as that's basically copy paste as well as the last two paragraphs. For those of you new to me: HI! Welcome to my slow deterioration of sanity put on display through fanfiction writing. The next few paragraphs go over a few details of importance, it can be skipped, but reading it gives you a bit more context and awareness of things.**

**To start: my upload schedule will be nothing less than sporadic. I will go anywhere between posting two chapters in a week to disappearing entirely for a whole month. That's not to say I just won't work for the time that I'm gone, but I have a busy schedule with a number of things to do, from running a community to attending university.**

**Next: the fanfic itself Is a full AU, characters will behave off from their canon selves and such, as, well, IT'S AU. Because I have my guilty pleasures, and as can hopefully be discerned from the summary that would have brought you all here, this fic is a high school AU (The idea of publishing this already makes me cringe but I always cringe at my writing so whatever). It will take the perspective of our favorite blonde boi Armin! Ships will be explored! Drama will be had! (possibly fluff because I have a strangely soft side for that stuff). As well as more than enough teenage angst to fulfill that teenage angst quota that any good high school has!**

**Finally: as can be figured out in the last paragraph this is an AU fanfic as stated. I am also writing an in universe AU for those of you interested in a timeline thrown off by the almighty hand of a fanfic writer's power. I might also start another fanfic or two for other animes as I am still only mortal and I have ideas I'd like to act on, as well as more than enough insanity to work on those ideas simultaneously as I work on other ideas.**

**That should be all for now, if I have any updates they'll either be at the beginning or end of a chapter in bold like this introduction chapter. Hope you all enjoy, I appreciate any and all reviews, and have a lovely time!**

**P.S.: Just to get this out of the way so I don't have to repeatedly add it into every chapter: I do not own Attack on Titan or any of the characters in it, yaddah yaddah you all could have easily guessed this much on your own, I personally don't get why it's always repeated in every fanfic ever, nobody is going to mistake anyone on here as the real owners of AoT.**


	2. Chapter 1: Daydreaming

Chapter 1: Daydreaming

"Armin!" A voice yells in my ear sending a jolt of adrenaline through my system so fast I jump in my chair. Slamming my forearms down on my desk with a bang which I immediately regret. I hardly even registered who decided that screaming in my ear would be a nice way to get my attention. Though I certainly have my guesses as I rub my forearms with sharp breaths going in and out through my teeth. After a moment of recovery from both the jolt of adrenaline that woke me up like a defibrillator had been charged to maximum power and slapped into the side of my skull, as well as the possible bruising of my arms, I look to the culprit who's rubbing the back of his head as he looks around the classroom trying to focus on anything but his crime. Eren. I'd be surprised, if I didn't know him that is.

"Eren, the next time that you want to scream in my ear, don't." I state, leaving him no room to argue, yet inevitable as it is he has something to say in return.

"Hey! It's not my fault that you lounge about like this when we're supposed to be going to our next class. The bell didn't even grab your attention and that thing even startles Mikasa!" Eren's retort is passionate and would be convincing if not for a faint comment of 'No it doesn't' from the girl in question at the door to the classroom. Eren's gaze whipping around to look at her with absolute betrayal. As though she just sold someone his deepest secret for a chocolate bar. She just shrugs plainly and without interest, ever the Mikasa thing to do.

I pack up a textbook and my notebook into my bag quickly now. Letting Eren over-dramatize the 'betrayal' in the background as I readjust. First period of the day, English 2, second block now is Algebra 2. I let out a small sigh. Sophomore year of high school is nothing but joy so far. Not that I have much experience to go off of, it is only the first day after all. Schedules took the first half of freshman year to get the hang of. Four blocks in total, the third block being two hours long with a half hour lunch break, while the other three blocks are an hour and a half. Every other day the first and second, and third and fourth block classes would swap places. So tomorrow the first block class will be Algebra 2 then English 2 after that. It was a weird adjustment from middle school but we got the hang of it quick enough.

I glance up at Eren once all my things are situated in my bag and I stand up. He breaks his stare off with Mikasa to look at me with a wry grin as he swings an arm around my shoulder a bit too forcefully for my taste and drags me along towards the door. "I can walk on my own you know?" I protest to the all too eager Yaeger.

"Come on, let me enjoy walking you to your class Armin. We won't get to see each other until," he holds up his free hand and counts on his fingers. It takes a moment before he continues just as merrily as before he cut himself off, "fourth block for biology!" I roll my eyes a bit. Eren was, scratch that, is terrible at math, and as such he's in Pre-Algebra still instead of Algebra 2 with Mikasa and I. Not only was he not in Algebra 1 for his freshmen year but the level down from it, but even with both Mikasa and I helping him, he shocked us by still failing and needing to take the class again. Grisha, last I heard, got him a personal tutor to help him this time, which in my honest opinion, will only slightly improve his chances if Mikasa and I together failed to help him.

"It really is in one ear out the other with you isn't it, Eren?" I glance at him from the corner of my eye. To which he simply shrugs as we reach the door and Mikasa joins us in walking out.

"You still haven't told me what your third block class is Eren." Mikasa chimes in passively. All we knew was that we all have a different third block class, we all share our first and last block classes, and knew that we'd be separated for second block, but we were all spread out when it came to third block.

"Yeah I haven't, that's true." Eren agrees. Then just doesn't continue. He actually whistles a tune nonchalantly like Mikasa wasn't expecting him to tell us the class.

"Hey, Eren, what's your third block class?" I chime in, getting annoyed at his whistling and feeling Mikasa's death glare have to pierce through me to get to Eren was easily enough motivation to cut the corner needed to save my very soul.

"Oh! I'm glad you ask, Armin!" He says all too cheerily. I think a hole is starting to bore its way through the side of my head to get to Eren. "I've got a study hall today, but on the alternate days it'll be gym." Another somewhat confusing aspect of the school was that some classes would only be half classes, so you would only have them every other day, so you could have, as an example, gym alternating with band, or culinary arts alternating with a study hall. It's no surprise though that Eren is swindling in a study hall conveniently on the lunch block. From my understanding of study hall it's less a study hall so much as it's a do whatever you want so long as you don't leave campus block.

"Just don't try invading our third block classes, Eren." I plead with him. He has pulled that stunt once before, skipping his class last semester to barge into Mikasa's and then my class to steal us away to be picked up by his mother. We had permission, it wasn't like it wasn't planned, but considering his mother was a half hour late and he left his class early without permission, and kidnapped Mikasa and I on top of that, it wasn't exactly appreciated by any of the individuals involved.

"What about you, Armin?" Mikasa asks, causing my gaze to whip around to looking at her walking beside me. I look down at my shoulder to see at that same time that Eren's arm still hasn't figured out personal space and I push it off. Earning a sorrow filled 'awww' to my right, as though I just took away his favorite toy. Something I'd never do, unless that toy is my own being.

"I thought I shared mine when I got my schedule?" I ask raising an eyebrow at the raven haired girl. Raven suits not only the visual but the personality when describing Mikasa, not that I'll ever say that aloud for fear of my life.

"You probably did, but I have a mediocre memory." A blatant lie if ever I heard one. Mikasa has an eidetic memory, photographic memory in the colloquial. It doesn't mean that she has a perfect memory of everything, far from it, it just means that she's very good at remembering images that she focuses on. However, aside from that, she still has an ungodly accurate memory, bordering on supernatural. It's scary the things she can recall, but then fail to remember other things you would expect her to remember. Such an oddity.

"It can't be that hard to repeat it Armin." Eren chirps in.

"Look who's talking." I chuckle out as I glance at him from the corner of my eye.

He simply shrugs as his gaze wanders off, whistling innocently. Acting as though he's free of any guilt and doing terribly at it. "Come on Armin. Before we get to class and have to lose track of Eren for a couple hours." Eren grips his chest over his heart and feints a non-existent blow to the heart as though Mikasa's words had taken up a bat and slammed it into his chest.

"Fiiiiine!" I groan out. Shifting my bag on my back a bit. The halls are only partially filled, I'm only just now noticing. There's still a couple minutes for the transition between classes. Though by the looks of it a couple of the classes around here are empty so I guess there aren't any classes around this hall this block. It is also only the fir-.

"Armin!" Eren calls into my ear as he slaps me over the head lightly. "Quit the daydreaming and answer before I have to ditch you two."

I roll my eyes at his whining. "Yeah yeah, you only have yourself to blame for that you know?" I smirk at him and he just shrugs as he crosses his arms. "I'm taking Creative Writing for my third block. Happy now?"

"Ecstatic." Eren says, but his voice was not ecstatic.

"Absolutely thrilled." Mikasa says, but her voice was not absolutely thrilled. Though she did pull up her red scarf to cover a small grin. Ever the cover up for any faces she makes.

"And you Miss Nosy?" I inquire. Eren popping his head around me to look at Mikasa with me, our gazes expectant.

"What about me?" She asks, shrugging her shoulders as though she has nothing to answer for.

"Don't play that game, you asked both of us now spill!" Eren says a bit pointedly.

"It's almost time for classes to start Eren you should get a move on." Mikasa says without missing a beat as she turns into our classroom. I would argue with her dodging the question but I find myself preoccupied holding back a snort of laughter as Eren stands dumbfounded outside of our classroom.

"I'll see you later Eren, try to take notes and pay attention, please? I don't want you getting held back on us." I say as I walk in. He simply huffs and waves his hand dismissively. Which is fair I guess since it is the first day. It's not like there's much going on. I'm the only one who even brought a textbook for each class. Probably just me being a nerd. Grandpa did tell me to ease off the load for the first day, saying my back will give out by the end of the semester let alone sophomore year.

I sit next to Mikasa. The room is mostly filled with upperclassmen who I'm guessing took Algebra 1 their sophomore year. For a bit it's giving me the impression we might well be the only Sophomores in this class, until Historia walks in a bit timidly. Spotting her before she can see us I wave to get her attention. She seems to relax when she spots me and walks over sitting in the desk behind me. "I'm so glad there's familiar faces here! I was so worried that I'd be on my own."

"I thought Ymir was in the same Algebra 1 class with you last year? I figured she would move Heaven and Earth to be put in the same Algebra 2 class as you." I say with a small chuckle. Mikasa nods as she's turned to face the both of us, about a minute or two still left before class is supposed to begin. Out of the corner of my eye I see the teacher leaning back in his chair at his desk.

"She was." Historia says as she scratches the back of her head with one hand, and leans her free arm on her desk. "But... She kind of failed the class and has to retake it."

"Same with Eren." Mikasa says. "Not that he would have gotten into our class even if he didn't fail." Her shoulders rise in a simple shrug, evoking a small chuckle from Historia.

"How'd she fail is my question? With her motivation being staying with you I expected her to ace the class." I add in, watching as Historia's face flushes a bit.

"Well, I think... Not that it's my place to guess! But she was probably a bit... Well, distracted by the prize... Instead of focusing on the challenge to get the p-prize." Her voice stutters as she keeps on backtracking and trying to cover what she says, putting a grin on my face and even Mikasa's. I'm about to say something but get cut off by the loud blare of the bell, causing me to flinch as I face forward and go quiet. Not everyone follows that example though, only Mikasa and Historia go silent, a number of hushed words still being exchanged between the upperclassmen, up until the teacher rises and addresses the class.

* * *

The rest of the classes go by rather uneventfully. Mostly it's just handing out and going over guidelines for the class. What each class will require, what's expected by the teachers, what we're expected to learn. It's all mostly the same, along with icebreaker questions and 'get to know your classmates' exercises. It's a bit jarring in Algebra 2 as every upperclassman seems to know each other where as Histora, Mikasa and I have no idea who's who beyond each other. Then in Creative Writing there's only five other classmates. Obviously not a popular class, but it makes it a bit more personal so I like it. Now there's only one fellow sophomore in this class, and I'm a bit taken off guard to find it to be Jean. By his reaction when I walked in he was more taken off guard than I was. He didn't really interact with me, which is fair, we've never been friends really but we're definitely not on bad terms. Neutral really, being friends with Eren results in not being able to really become friends with him as the two just don't get along. It's an amusing rivalry for everyone around them though, like we're all half friends simply by the connection of their rivalry.

Lunch was the least interesting part of the day, as I couldn't find Eren or Mikasa, so I ended up hanging around on my own. Historia and Ymir kept me company, though it was mostly just them sitting with me while Ymir ogles over Historia, and Historia tries to stop her from ogling over her. It would be an amusing back and forth, though I don't really pay it much attention beyond a glance here and there. My mind drifting off to wonder what Mikasa's third class could be that she flat out refused to tell Eren and I. "Mikasa? Knowing her she's definitely gone full gym class for third block." Ymir suggests in one of her few moments of clarity.

"No." I quickly shoot the idea down, before explaining, "Mikasa hates gym as a class. She exercises intensely sure but she despises it as a class." Ymir's eyes widen a bit from shock at that information, but it's not a look she wears for long before returning her attention to messing with Historia.

When it's the last block of the day I've found that I really do hate icebreaker exercises. There's only so many times I can say my name, how old I am, where I'm from and an interesting fact about myself before I want to change my name, forget my age, move to a new home and never be interesting again. Thankfully Ms. Hange, the biology teacher, seems uninterested in getting to know the students or have them introduce themselves to each other. Though I quickly learn to miss the icebreakers as she starts showing off a presentation of pictures of different dissections she's had her biology classes do in the past. Maybe hearing everyone repeat the same age over and over again isn't such a bad thing after all.

The tables for biology are set for groups of four for lab experiments. Mikasa, Eren and I were quick to seat ourselves together when we had arrived, and our fourth table mate winds up being Connie. It could have been a worse fourth really, we could have ended up with two Erens. There were a couple upperclassmen in the class from what I could see but for the most part it's people we know from freshmen year and earlier. Jean, Marco, Historia and Ymir make up a group and Reiner, Bertholdt Annie and Sasha make up another. There are some more familiar faces but I don't have time to really pick them out when I see Mikasa cover Eren's eyes to keep him from gawking at the dissection pictures, her face deadpanning as Eren tries desperately to look around her hand which seems to track his every move. "You're like a parental blocker on TV." He grumbles as he persists in trying to get a view. Mikasa unresponsive as she looks at me. I just shrug, not really knowing what she wants me to do about it. 'You're the babysitter not me' I mouth and she just rolls her eyes before returning her attention to the presentation.

Once the presentation ends the bell to toll the end of the day sounds and I'm somewhat caught off guard as I didn't realize that we were looking at dissected carcasses for over an hour. I pull out my binder and make sure each class' handouts are in their proper folder and that the labels are secure before putting it back in with my textbooks and notebooks, neither of which were put to much of any use today. Then I feel Eren get in close to my ear and I know for a fact he thinks I'm off in my own world again, before he can scream in my ear and take out my ear drums in the process I clamp my hand down on his mouth like a muzzle. "Try it and I'll sick Mikasa on you."

He gives me a look as if to say 'yeah right' but when I glance over at Mikasa she crosses her arms looking at Eren. "If you make Armin deaf the money for his hearing aid is coming out of your pocket.

He shrugs as he pulls back, releasing his face from my grip in the process. "Fine fine. I'll spare him this time."

"This time?" I ask as I pull my bag onto my shoulders.

"Take it Armin. We're not gonna get a better deal than that." Mikasa adds in before Eren can try pulling back on his word.

Eren's arm at that moment slings around my shoulders harshly and the temptation to ask Mikasa to throw Eren has never been stronger. "Let's get a move on you two. I wanna make sure that we claim our seats on the bus before the freshmen try to take them." He doesn't even let me respond as he starts dragging me along with him, Mikasa on the other side of him as we go through the bustling halls, everyone in a rush to go home.

Our bus is part of the second wave of buses that pull up to the front of the school, so we are a bit early and end up waiting around by the first wave of buses. "Mikasa," Eren pipes up, "wanna tell us what your third block is now?"

"No." Her voice is flat, not even a hint of teasing or messing with him as she just flat out makes the statement.

"Oh come on Mikasa, you forced it out of me and Armin!"

"Armin and I." I correct, while looking through my phone at my science news feed. Though that gets interrupted when I feel someone flick the side of my head. I glare over at Eren who's back to drilling Mikasa for answers. My free hand rubbing the side of my head.

"It can't be that bad. Armin's taking creative writing! It doesn't get much more sad than that."

"Hey!" I snap, but he doesn't seem to even hear me.

"I didn't force either of you to tell me. I just asked out of curiosity. Armin technically already told me before, I just forgot." Her retort is flawed for the simple fact that I know she didn't forget she's just messing with us.

"How'd you not know Eren's is my question?" I say before continuing with, "You two live together yet you didn't once hear from him over the Summer what his class is?"

"We all agreed not to share our third block class until school starts to make sure that we don't just all sign up for the same class to stick together." Mikasa states it as plainly as if she were declaring it a mildly temperate day. Her eyes focus on the buses as they leave, standing up with her bag, causing Eren and I to do the same. "And just because we agreed not to share until school starts doesn't mean that I have to now that it has." Sometimes Mikasa scares me with how ordinarily she speaks about anything and everything. She takes the lead in heading for the bus, then me, then Eren at the back.

"Wait yeah we agreed not to share until school started so why'd you tell her during summer Armin?" I feel Eren look at me expectantly behind me, but I just whistle nonchalantly as I follow Mikasa.

We walk down to the back of the bus. The back of the bus having one two person seat then on the other side a one person seat. Mikasa stands aside to let me sit next to the window of the two person seat, then sits next to me. It became law quickly in freshmen year that Eren gets the single person seat. He finds it roomier to be able to sit his bag in the space where the rest of a two person seat easily could have fit and sleep the entire way home. Which he wastes no time in making use of that practice. "It's like he completely forgot about figuring out what your class is." I whisper in awe at how he's already passed out before the bus has even started moving.

"This wasn't even a complicated day. He's gonna collapse in the walkway before he can even get that seat tomorrow." Mikasa comments as she pulls out her earbuds from her bag under the seat.

I don't have my earbuds with me, as in my brilliance this morning I forgot them on my desk. So I just pull out my phone and continue scrolling through my science feed. I slouch down and lift up my knees to rest against the back of the seat in front of us. It's oddly comfortable as it lets me curl up and relax. Though Mikasa looks at me as though I just did a front flip without any context. Confusion written all over her face. "Armin what on Earth are you doing?"

"Relaxing." I say simply and she only gets more confused watching my curled up form.

She's about to put in her second earbud when she sees I've not pulled out mine I guess since she's now holding one of the buds out for me. "You forget yours?"

I shrug almost imperceptibly. "It's fine. I know you hate listening to people on the bus."

"So do you." She shoots back with the faintest of grins.

"It's a waste for us to only half save ourselves from the noise, better one of us survives than neither." I chuckle as she keeps holding out the bud.

"I'm not leaving you behind Armin." She says with mock drama in her voice. "We can both survive this trip just take it!" She commands with a small chuckle. I relent and take the bud from between her index finger and thumb and place it in my ear.

Mikasa's music taste in my experience is mostly rock, not heavy metal levels of rock but also not the kind of rock that borders on pop music. None of which are really my kind of music, but I'm prepared for it as I close my eyes to relax, only for them to snap open when I hear the starts of orchestral music. I glance over at Mikasa incredulously.

"What?" She asks with an eyebrow rising, her red scarf already covering everything below her eyes, which does result in her words getting a bit muffled.

"Since when have you been into classical?" I press the question forward. Though considering how evasive she's been with every other question asked today I'm not sure I'll even get an answer.

"I've been giving it some tries over the Summer. I know you like it so I decided that I'd give it a chance. Turns out it's not that bad." She shrugs a bit.

I can't help but feel my face heat up as I look out the window to avoid continued eye contact with her. It's flattering that she gave it a try because of me, and I'm glad she likes it. I'm just not really sure how to respond. I could just be overthinking it. That's actually just the most likely possibility outright. Wouldn't be the first time I'm overthinking things. I turn to her and smile, about to say 'I'm glad you like it' only to see that her eyes are closed and her head's leaning against the seat. I sigh a bit before leaning my head against the window. I'll just tell her when we get off the bus. Grandpa knows I'm going to be over Eren and Mikasa's for the night, which is hardly an issue since we live right next door to each other. If I need something or he needs me it takes less than a minute for me to get home from their house.

The ride is about an hour long, and I think I at most only lost seven brain cells from what little I heard on the bus. Thanks to Mikasa sharing her ear bud it saved me from far more casualties. Though I mourn for her own losses, from the corner of my eye I could see her open her eyes just faintly to glare forward at some of the things that could be heard ahead of us. I hand the ear bud back to her when the bus stops and she takes it and wraps the cord around her phone before putting it in her pocket. She leans over to Eren and seems to be going to nudge him before abruptly smacking him over the head. To say the least Eren is wide awake as he flails and falls to the floor in a panic.

After a few choice words and collecting all our stuff, Eren barges off the bus like a damn race car. I follow after Mikasa, walking at a human speed rather than replicating the damn road runner cartoon. Once we're off the bus doors close behind us and we make our way up to the Yaeger home's front door. It's a pretty well off home, two stories and a basement, plenty of room, as well as a fair backyard. By comparison to grandpa's home, it's a lot better. Not to say that we aren't well off, it's just by comparison. Grisha is a well off and accomplished doctor after all so it's no surprise that they're just a bit cozier compared to grandpa and I. Though the cost of that is Grisha hardly being around the home.

Eren's already inside and lying on the couch with his shoes launched off into whatever direction he was kicking them off in. "I'm shocked how awake you are after just waking up." I say as I untie and take off my shoes at the door with Mikasa, setting them to the side as Eren just shrugs.

"I blame being abused into waking up." He says pointedly. Mikasa is now the one playing innocent with looks around the room avoiding looking at Eren, humming as if she never heard him.

"Welcome home you three!" Carla calls out from the kitchen. After a moment she comes out and hugs Mikasa then me, before going over to Eren and slapping his legs off the couch. "Make yourselves comfortable! I decided to start dinner prep early, sorry to disappoint Mikasa, there's not much to help with at this point." She offers a small smile to the raven.

"It's fine." Mikasa dismisses the apology as she sits on the couch next to Eren to prevent him from throwing his legs up again and taking all the room. "I'll take care of cleaning up after." Her voice cool and simple, not wasting any words, let alone bothering to leave room for negotiations.

"I'll help too!" I chime in and Carla gives me a smile as she heads back into the kitchen.

"You're too sweet Armin." She says before disappearing back into the kitchen. Eren rolls his eyes as he turns on the TV. I take my seat next to Mikasa and lean on the arm of the couch. Eren spends most of his time just scrolling through the channels. I'm pretty sure he loops back around about three times before going to on demand.

"Is there a reason you won't tell your third block class to us Mikasa or are you just messing with us?" I whisper to her. Eren too in his own world to really hear while he looks at movie trailers to try and find something that might actually catch his interest.

Mikasa looks at me for a moment. Silent as she contemplates before shaking her head and whispering back, "I'll tell you later." Is it just keeping it from Eren then? Is there something about the class that she thinks Eren will not like? Or more likely make fun of her about? It's not unlike Eren to be a bit insensitive when it comes to things he cares about. Just thinking back to his response to me taking Creative Writing says enough on that front. He lacks any tact at all and when it comes to Mikasa and I, he has less than no tact.

"You guys wanna watch the new Pacific Rim movie?" Eren calls over to us as he watches the trailer.

"The first one was alright but it's a sequel Eren." I chide, knowing the cardinal sin for most movies is making an unnecessary sequel.

"Come on, who watches action movies for the story?"

"You just want to watch the fight scenes don't you?" Mikasa surmises before I can say it myself.

"Obviously." Eren answers as though it should be his only reason to watch the movie.

"Fighting giant monsters to decide the fate of Humanity is such an overdone plot though." I groan out as I lean my elbow on the arm of the couch and use the same elbow's hand to hold my head up.

"Like I just said, who cares about plot? Action is all that matters."

"You're insufferable, you know that?"

"Just start it already we're not going to find much else." Mikasa cuts in, preventing any time being wasted with a back and forth. Eren starts up the movie and I lean back into the couch. Drifting off into my own head for a bit.

* * *

After a while of white noise going on in the background I snap to attention when I see Carla walk over with a a tray holding three plates. In each plate is a sizzling piece of steak, mashed potatoes, and green peas. Knives and forks on the end of the tray. We all thank Carla as she heads off to eat her own in the kitchen I assume. Carla has no issue with us eating in the living room, knowing that Mikasa and I will keep clean and prevent Eren from making a mess.

We all grab a plate and dig in, Eren still focused on the movie, Mikasa only half paying attention, then me who isn't even watching.

After a couple minutes Carla walks by heading for the door. "I'm going out for a bit, don't burn down the house Eren, Mikasa you know the emergency services number, Armin I hope that your grandpa has some spare space for when he does burn the house down and we have to find shelter for the next few weeks." Mikasa and I share a chuckle, where as Eren waves her off dismissively.

Once I'm done I stand up and take my plate to the kitchen. Cleaning it up as an excuse to get away from the movie. Some pots and pans are in the sink, not entirely sure if they're all from just this dinner, so I start cleaning them up too. After I've cleaned up about half of what was already in the sink I hear Mikasa walk in and stand with me. "Stealing my job, huh?" She asks with a grin. I notice she has Eren's plate with hers, as well as the tray.

"You trying to escape the movie too?" I chuckle as I hand over a sponge for her to take over dishes while I go and clean up the rest of the kitchen.

"Escape is a strong word." She says nonchalantly. I shake my head with a grin. I hear Eren's phone go off in the living room and it quickly be picked up. I glance over and through the hall I can just barely see him standing up and collecting his shoes while he holds the phone to his ear. Is he ditching us? I shrug it off and return to cleaning the counter.

"Hey guys sorry," Eren starts in the doorway into the kitchen, "I'm going out myself for a bit, sorry to ditch you guys but I should be back before mom gets back." Eren turns and heads for the door.

"Where are you going?" Mikasa calls out, leaving the sink with a plate mid clean, heading for Eren.

"Just out for a walk. Quit worrying I'll be back before you know it." He calls back before I hear the door shut out front. Mikasa huffs in the kitchen's door frame before walking back to the sink and finishing cleaning the plates.

I think I can physically feel the silence in the air around me. It's actually kind of cool if not for the fact that Mikasa radiates tension like a fog machine. I want to say something, actually scratch that, I might need to say something or else Mikasa might be the one who burns the house just by turning into a human radiator.

"Mikasa you ok?" I ask. I wince at myself being so ridiculous. OK? Obviously not! The strongest person I've ever met just had the most annoying friend in existence run off on her out of nowhere when she was supposed to be looking after him. What am I expecting? 'Oh yeah Armin I'm fine, it's a peaceful day and everything's going my way!' The only way she'd say that right now is if the very oxygen she breathes now is laced with sarcasm.

"Yeah." She says and I wince as she ye- wait she just said yeah? On second glance she's sitting at the kitchen island her chin on the counter. The completely tense girl I saw all of five seconds ago suddenly loose in thought. I'm taken off guard rather harshly. 'Yeah'? I was prepared to run for the hills just a moment ago and now I feel like I'm watching dog pouting because its owner just left the house.

I walk over and hover a hand over her shoulder. Contemplating just how badly I'll need it to function through the rest of my life, but then say screw it and rest it on her shoulder. Maybe me doing that isn't very comfortable but it's all I can do really.

"Art." I hear her mumble faintly. I raise an eyebrow at her as I take a seat and sit next to her, pulling my hand away slowly.

"I'm sorry?" I ask. not quite understanding what she's talking about immediately.

"Third block. I'm taking art." I feel like I'm hearing things for a second. She's taking art? Mikasa? The most hardcore and scary girl I've known since elementary school? In all this time she's never shown any interest in art. Right? "You think it's dumb." She mumbles as she folds her arms on the table and buries her head into her forearms. I feel myself panic a bit.

I stutter out my words as I try to reassure her, saying, "N-no! It's un... expected sure. I n-never knew you had an interest in art is... all." I'm so bad at comforting. I sound like I'm on the verge of having a stroke. I'm too young to die like that!

Then I hear a chuckle. My eyes widen as I look at Mikasa's shoulders bounce lightly. "You're ridiculous Armin." She says as she slowly sits back up. "I'm glad you are though. It's a nice change of pace from dealing with Eren."

"You're only saying that because you don't live with me. I'm not nearly as tolerable when it comes to living with me on a daily basis." I chuckle as I lean on the island. Feeling the tension die down now, and my lungs are thankful for the fresh air now.

"I don't know about that. You wanna try living with Eren?"

"That's all you, I don't have your level of patience."

"Maybe we should leave him to deal with himself to save both ourselves."

"Hah! That would cut our losses immensely."

Mikasa's grin lowers and she sighs a bit. I feel myself tense again. Did I say something wrong? Am I missing something? Is she worrying about Eren? "You have something on your mind Mikasa?" I ask. Yet again the answer is obvious and I mentally slap myself for it.

"A couple things, yeah." She pulls up her scarf, still wrapped around her neck even indoors, and it covers up to her nose now. I find myself fiddling with my nails now. Not picking at them, I kicked that habit a long time ago. Right now I'm just feeling them and trying to distract myself. Not really sure how to help Mikasa. I want to help her. I care about her and I don't like seeing her so shut in. Her usual closed up behavior is fine and is still open enough to enjoy herself, but now she seems to be put off by whatever's going on with Eren. "Armin."

Her voice snaps me out of myself and I look at her curiously, her scarf still covering half her face. "Yeah?" I ask.

"You're... a good friend. I hope you know that..." She pauses a moment looking at me. Her scarf muffling her words a bit. "You know that right?"

I feel myself tense up rapidly. Looking back at her a bit taken by surprise. My eyebrows are probably as high as they can get right now. "I mean, if you think I am then I guess I have... I have to trust your judgement." I chuckle a little, trying to ease myself up. Pulling one hand up to rub the back of my head. Unsure why she's bringing this up.

"Eren's, well he's Eren. I love him like a brother. Which means he has a knack for getting on my nerves like a brother too."

"Why's this coming up Mikasa? Is something up with Eren?"

"Nothing major. I just know he's been sneaking off a lot these past couple weeks. I should probably say something or follow him, but I just don't." She sighs a bit. "I'm probably just being overprotective. He can handle himself. I worry more about him than I worry about myself I feel like."

"Well that's not wrong. But that's not bad either. Since you're acknowledging it though that means you can try doing something about it. Start focusing on what you want more instead of how to keep Eren in check." I find the words coming easier now. No more stuttering, though I still feel tense and I hardly understand why. It's not like Mikasa is about to rip my head off... Right?

She snorts a bit and looks at me curiously. "What I want?"

"You want things right? Or have you gone spiritualist on me while I wasn't looking and are rejecting all materialist objects?"

"What if I am?" She asks, and I can hear the grin in her voice. It's so odd, she hardly ever grins, but I feel like today she's been doing it nonstop.

"Well for starters you're doing terribly at it right now, the scarf is a materialist item, you don't need it to live a happy fulfilling spiritualist life, hand it over." I demand as I reach for the scarf and she laughs as she dodges, hopping out of the chair and keeping out of arm's reach of me. "Hey! I'm just trying to help you live your spiritualist life here don't fight me!" Please, don't fight me, I don't want to die this young.

"No!" She proclaims and darts out of the kitchen. I roll my eyes, deciding that playing along with what I've started is probably the best way to help Mikasa.

I chase her around for a bit. It's actually kind of relaxing, seeing her happy like this. Hearing her laugh. It warms my heart. My friend... Friend...

My thought is cut off out of the blue when Mikasa trips me over in the living room, the sound of robots fighting big monsters still playing on the TV as I land face first on the couch. I feel a pressure on my back for a moment then I'm flipped over, looking up at Mikasa, triumphant as she keeps me pinned with her knee to my chest. Ow. "I win!" She declares.

"Funny. I don't recall this being a game. Is that how you're treating your new spiritualist life Mikasa? Some kind of game?" She rolls her eyes and I can't help but grin.

"I've decided that a spiritualist life is overrated. Materials in the real world are too enjoyable to give up." She shoots back at me with a grin, keeping me pinned securely. Again, ow.

"You bring shame to spiritualists everywhere with your flippancy." I mock displeasure and sorrow in my voice, causing her to let out small giggle. I feel her knee dig into my heart I think. Wait, no her knee isn't over my heart it's too low.

"Doesn't matter. I still won Arlert."

"I'm still trying to figure out what exactly it is you won here."

She pauses for a second at that. Seeming to close up again. I raise an eyebrow up at her, not sure why she's stuttering about from open and happy to closed up like a clam. It simultaneously confuses me, and fills me with worry. She's obviously not saying what's on her mind, but I can't read what's wrong. "You said earlier." She starts, grabbing my full attention. "You said that I should focus more on what I want. I'm unsure what I want really." Her eyes look away a bit, but she doesn't move away.

"You don't have to rush things Mikasa. There's plenty of time to figure out what you want."

"But what if I can't get what I want?"

"Mikasa, you shouldn't dwell on that." In all honesty I don't know where all this wisdom and sage advice that I'm spilling out is coming from. I think I've read too many books for my own good. "I know this is probably a case of do as I say not as I do, I know I don't have the guts to act on things I want, but I know you do, so I'll give you this advice, it's better to have acted on what you want than to have never acted at all, even if it ends in failure."

She's silent for a moment. Considering my words I think. Her index finger hooked on the top of her scarf, holding it so that it comes just under her eyes, covering nearly her entire face. I feel her shift her weight a bit, causing her knee to grind into my chest again. Once more, ow. She then lifts her knee off of my chest and sits on my stomach with her knees on either side of me to keep me pinned. "You won already so you don't need to keep me pinned ya know?" I ask, hoping that will convince her to get off my fragile person.

She chuckles at that and in the midst of rolling my eyes, her scarf drops on my face. I puff out air to get the cloth out of and away from my mouth. I reach up and grab the scarf, starting to pull it off but being quickly interrupted by Mikasa's hands holding mine still. I open my mouth to ask her why she's tormenting me so inhumanely, only to feel a soft pressure against my lips. My eyes widen under the cloth of the scarf and I'm frozen in place for a moment. What just happened? I feel the scarf lift off my face slowly. I hardly even register that there's no longer a grip on one of my wrists. When it's off I watch Mikasa wrap it around her neck and hold it high enough to cover her cheeks. I wish I had a scarf of my own to do that because I feel my face lighting on fire.

"Mikasa...?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you just...?"

"Yeah."

"I... Uhm..." I struggle to form words and I can tell that I'm not being subtle about my shock.

"Before you... say anything. I'm sorry if it's upset you." Her voice once again a little muffled by her scarf. "I just felt that with what you said about acting on what I want, I should probably listen to you, since you're almost never wrong about anything." She presses the scarf a bit closer to her mouth. "If I failed at least I tr-"

"Mikasa." I interrupt her. I feel her tense up. Her grip on my other hand loosens, I hadn't even realized that it tightened in the first place.

"Armin?" She asks slowly and shyly. I don't know why but I think my heart skips a beat when she says my name.

"The scarf's in the way." I hardly even know what I'm saying. It's like I've gone into an autopilot that I didn't even know existed.

She pulls down her scarf so that it's under her chin now, her face red, and I imagine that mine probably has the same shade. I don't really know what's come over me. I feel sick. It's not sick sick though. Terrified? No not that either. It's weird, yet regardless I find myself leaning up a bit, thankfully Mikasa leans down and meets me halfway, pressing our lips together softly. It sends a jolt through me, not like this morning when Eren screamed in my poor ear. This is different. It's comforting. Like I'm wrapped in a warm blanket. Unlike the fight or flight adrenaline rush that Eren's scream sent through me this jolt is more like a rush of bliss. Like I could stay like this without any wor-

_Click!_ Oh fuck someone's back! Mikasa has the same reaction and rolls off me and lands on the floor and swings around to be propped against the couch like she's watching the TV. Damn she's fast! I curl up in the corner of the couch leaning against the arm as Carla walks in. I'm not surprised to see that Eren failed to get here before her.

"Where's Eren?" She asks as she sets down a bag. When Mikasa and I shrug in response she huffs. "I'm sure you guys tried to stop him from running off. It's the thought that counts. Maybe they won't be able to trace his path of destruction back to us." She says as she walks off to the kitchen. I hear a pleasant sigh from where she went, though I hardly register it as I look at Mikasa, who looks at me. If my face is as red as hers then I wonder how on Earth she missed it. I'm actually thankful that it wasn't Eren since I think we would have been busted if it were. Though thinking about it, Eren has it down to a fine art when it comes to being oblivious.

Mikasa sits up on the couch now and wraps an arm around mine and leans her head on my shoulder, talking low so that only I can hear in case Carla is listening in. "Don't tell Eren, please?"

I grin a bit as I whisper back, "What about? You taking art class or what just happened?"

She swiftly delivers a flick to the side of my head and responds, "Both."

"Hey you two!" Mikasa flings herself to the other side of the couch in the blink of an eye, I think she might have ripped my arm off me if she went any faster. "Thanks so much for cleaning up for me. I doubt Eren thanked you before leaving so I'll say thank you again for him." Carla says cheerily. Mikasa lets out a sigh of relief I think, and I'd be lying if I tried to convince myself I didn't with her.

"It was no problem Mrs. Yaeger." I say, focusing on the TV to distract myself a bit. I hardly even know what just happened, all I know is that Mikasa doesn't want it being known. So I'll keep it between us. In all honesty, I don't know what I'm feeling but it's nice, whatever it is. I spare a glance over to Mikasa, and she's covered her face with her scarf completely.

"Always happy to help." She says as normally as she can. Carla just smiles obliviously and goes back about her business.

"If you guys could contact Eren somehow and tell him to get home ASAP it would be appreciated." Carla calls out from the kitchen. I guess sorting things out as we didn't really organize everything when we interrupted our own work.

I look over to Mikasa, raising an eyebrow, and she shakes her head as if to say 'Not my job.' Not feeling like calling him right now I just pull out my phone and send him a text.

**Me: Eren, where are you? You're a bit late to get back before your mother. She seems fine now but I can tell she's ready to blow up at you.**

**PainInTheAss: sorry got lil caught up**

**PainInTheAss: b back in 5**

**Me: Eren, you do know how to spell properly right?**

**PainInTheAss: nope**

**Me: You don't even capitalize your first word, it's not that hard! Your phone can even be set to auto-capitalize!**

**PainInTheAss: HOW BOUT I LEAVE CAPS ON HUH**

**Me: Never mind. I prefer the no capitalization.**

**PainInTheAss: thats what i thought**

I roll my eyes before I put away my phone. Avoiding losing my sanity with Eren's text speech. I know for a fact that he un-capitalized that I to spite me. "He's on his way back!" I call out to Carla.

She hums her confirmation that she heard and I stretch out in the couch. I can't help but yawn into my shoulder. With the adrenaline shot this morning from Eren mixed with the second adrenaline shot just a few minutes ago I'm rather exhausted shockingly. "We're gonna go set up in my room Carla!" Mikasa calls out, standing up from the couch with a stretch, keeping her head down so that it stays covered by her scarf. I'm guessing in case Carla comes in. Is she really still blushing? Carla hums another confirmation. I think Eren might lose a leg when he gets back. Mikasa takes my hand and leads me upstairs. Opening the door to her room and letting me in first before following me in, and I hear her close the door behind me.

I walk over and flop into her bean bag. Quickly getting comfortable in the bean seat. I hear Mikasa's giggle behind me accompanied by the moving of supplies, which I'm guessing are intended to make a makeshift bed for Eren and I. I don't really pay attention, happily lying face first in the bean bag. "I'll sleep here don't mind me." I mumble into the beans contentedly.

"You sure? I can't imagine it's that comfortable, and don't you like your comfortable sleep?" Mikasa asks, I hear more shifting and movement.

"You offering to donate your bed to me? I can't guarantee that I won't pass out on contact with the mattress."

"Do I need to donate it? Sharing is caring isn't it?" Her voice is laced with her sheepish tone at the question, and I finally turn over to see she's split her bed into three sections with walls of blankets and pillows set up.

"How many blankets and pillows have you stuffed into your closet?"

"Enough."

"How many is enough?"

"You wanna keep asking?"

"A little, but now I'm a little afraid to."

"Get in already before I throw you out to sleep in Eren's room."

"No please!" I plead with a grin as I get up and make my way into her bed. Oh. Now that's not something that would have made my face burn earlier this summer. Though I don't really know what to say on the subject of that kiss. I can hardly believe that that happened. Did it happen? Was I daydreaming? When I lie down against the wall I turn over to look at Mikasa who's already in the middle of the three sections. Sitting criss cross in front of me. I freeze up facing her. I slowly sit up on my knees Face to face with her.

She took off her scarf I realize and it's off on the dresser out of the corner of my eye. I look down a bit awkwardly, unsure of what to say, I watch her fiddling with her hands. seeming to be just as unsure as I am. "Armin..." She speaks up now. I have to force myself a bit to look up at her. Not because I don't want to look at her, but because I'm worried about what she's going to say. "I was a bit forward earlier... I kind of forced you into a situation, and if... You know you don't actually... Feel comfortable about this."

I stop her before she can continue, I hardly register that I've taken her hands in mine. My face heated and probably about ready to turn into a red balloon. "You said you won didn't you? Don't go backing out from what you want now." I offer her a reassuring smile. One that lights her up a bit. She leans in and pecks me on the lips, it's faint but I enjoy it just as much as the other two.

"Get some sleep. I'll make sure Eren doesn't draw on your face before he goes to sleep himself." Mikasa says, guiding me to lie down, which I happily go along with.

"You sure he won't be able to draw even in his sleep? He's pretty committed to that prank."

"If he succeeds he's gonna lose a hand."

"You'll have to get in line I think. I'm pretty sure Carla has first dibs."

"No, she'll break his legs so he can't sneak out anymore. The hands will be fair game."

"You've thought this out more than I'd like to consider."

"I have spare time."

"Should I be worried about my safety?"

"No, I'm your safety now."

I feel my face flare with heat. Damnit, it was just cooling down too. She obviously sees this and giggles at my expense. I want to complain, but the pillow is a bit too comfortable, and my eyelids are getting heavier a bit too quickly. I want to sleep more than I'd like to complain on second thought.


	3. Chapter 2: Secrets Aren't Fun

Chapter 2: Secrets Aren't Fun

I'm awake before I feel awake. It's a weird feeling but it's how I wake up most mornings. It's when you have the feeling of being conscious but also not wanting to be conscious. It's actually not that weird considering it. Nonetheless, it's how I feel and will continue to feel until I'm at least halfway to school. I'm not nearly as bad as Eren though, when he wakes up he's just outright murderous. I'm at least passive and not paying attention, he, on the other hand, is hyper-aware of anything that might even have a chance of annoying him and it becomes the target of an almost animal rage. Mikasa though, in my experience, wakes up like a normal human being. I'm a little bit jealous honestly. Though it's possible I'm just misinterpreting her, as she's hardly ever high energy so her morning grogginess is likely just blended in with her natural emotionless uninterested nature.

Wait, emotionless? That's a bit hard to think now considering what happened just yesterday. It did happen, right? I'm sure it did, I'm not the type to hallucinate like that. I felt her... Now my face is heating up. Grand! I slowly open my eyes, looking around Mikasa's bland room. No colored walls, just a grey wallpaper accompanied by a lack of any kind of memorabilia. I remember Eren has a number of posters and he's changed the paint of his room more times than I care to remember. He's never satisfied and Carla is hardly ever entertained by the strong scent of pain that comes from his room when he's trying to change it.

I glance to my side and see Mikasa curled up under a blanket and I grin a bit at her. She actually looks vulnerable when asleep now that I think about it. Something that could never describe a waking Mikasa. Meanwhile, at the other end of the bed from me, Eren has half his body falling off the side of the bed while the other half seems to have magnetized to the bed to keep him from falling. I look between the two of them and consider my options. I could attempt to slowly sneak out of the bed to escape downstairs to safety, or I could try to sleep in a bit and wait for them to wake up and get out of the way.

After a moment of contemplation, I come to the conclusion that sneaking is my preferred option as if I try to sleep in like Eren I may well decide not to wake up when I need to. I slowly make my way down to the bottom end of the bed, trying to hop over them will only get me killed, and I don't know which death is worse, death by falling over as I leap and snapping my neck when I inevitably fail to leap properly or waking up Eren and him killing me. Both are undesirable outcomes for my short life so shimmying to the end of the bed and silently leaving might be the longer route, but it's also my safest choice. As I'm almost off I hear Mikasa murmur gibberish in her sleep, and looking up at her I watch as she rolls over the wall that separated us and lie still where I was, still curled up slightly. 'Well, it was no Great Wall of China that separated us so I'm not surprised.' I think. I sit up at the foot of the bed and stand up. Stretching my limbs out to get my blood flowing before I head out of the room and downstairs quickly and quietly.

Once I've arrived in the living room I go over to where my shoes sit next to the front door and grab my bag before returning back into the living room and sitting on the edge of the couch. Leaning against the armrest I pull out the course guidelines that were handed out yesterday and start looking through them all. It's another hour or so before I expect anyone to get up or do anything really. I tend to wake up early as is, which is probably why I'm usually out of it in the morning, but I'll continue to live with it. I need the time to organize my thoughts and plan for the day. Plus it's nice to have time to myself; I think more clearly in silence.

I start by looking through the basics, English, Algebra and Biology. All of them are unsurprisingly simple, 'learn to _' and 'acquire a better understanding of _' being the general consensus of all of them. I'm also pretty sure that they just filled out a fill in the blank course guideline sheet because half of the wording is just copy pasted. Even the format is exactly the same. Sure it's probably regulation but it just seems lazy. Could just be me though. I doubt anyone else would actually notice it let alone be bothered by it.

The guidelines are quick and easy to get through, mostly in part for being able to skip half the words in them since they're just copy pasted from each other, I'm unsure if it's plagiarism if they don't cite where they got the format from, and finally move on to the Creative Writing guideline. Which immediately seems a lot different from the other guidelines. Mr. E. Smith teaches this class. He's also head of the English department, so seeing this guideline of all of them so off base, font, wording, grading, everything's different about it, it's a bit shocking. After all why would the head of the English department of all people disobey the regulated guidelines? How is a better question actually? I shake off the initial shock and proceed to read through it, double checking the other guidelines to confirm that this is indeed completely off every other guideline's presentation. Scanning through it though it seems to also have much more open expectations, 'find your own voice' and 'share your ideas and experiences' being some examples of the rather vague and unorthodox expectations that this course apparently has.

"Armin?" I jump in my seat and whirl around to gawk at Eren who's stretching at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes only half open. "Are you seriously awake early just to read through course guidelines?" He wears a smart ass grin as he walks around the couch and hops onto the other end, lying across the couch with his head on the armrest.

"I'm sorry, but who are you to talk when you should still be sleeping in for at least another hour?" I narrow my eyes at him. I extend my foot and tap his to make sure he's real.

He just rolls his eyes and lightly kicks my foot away from his as he grabs the TV remote and turns it on. "You need to learn to answer questions with answers instead of extra questions." He says as he scrolls through channels idly. Only getting glimpses of what's on before continuing on and on.

"I do answer questions, just not your dumb ones," I reply back, pulling the papers together again before organizing them back in my backpack. Eren just rolls his eyes again and continues going through channels silently. I sigh a bit, seeing as my alone time has been officially interrupted. I went over what I needed to though, not much is happening this first week really. All that's going to happen for this first month as a whole I imagine is just relearning what we have already learned in our previous classes.

I pull out my phone and check through my science feeds. Trying to occupy myself while Eren occupies himself through television. There's not much news though really. It's all just copying off of each other most of the time, and there's only so many times you can read about the same new tech or medical advancement before it loses its value. I glance up quickly and watch Eren get up. "You want a drink, Armin?" He asks me as he walks by.

"Sure, just water please," I say watching him go by. He nods and I put my head back down to my phone. Scrolling through a bit longer in the hopes that something might pique my interest. Sadly, by the time Eren comes back in and hands me my glass I've only come up dry. I sigh as I take the glass and sip it a bit before placing it on the table. Eren sits back on the other end of the couch again, this time not stretching out across it needlessly.

Time seems to pass slower and slower. I feel like the same episode of Tom and Jerry has been playing for an hour when it's only been about ten minutes. I shake myself to wake up a bit and I feel Eren glancing at me. Which is fair. I probably look insane doing this out of nowhere without any context. "You two woke up without alerting me?"

Eren and I snap our heads in the direction of the stairs as Mikasa walks down them. A single eyebrow perked up at us curiously. "I'm surprised you didn't get up before me." Eren chimes as he picks up his water and gulps down a chunk before setting it back on the table. "You're getting sluggish Mikasa." He says with a smirk. I feel a pillow move behind me and I look back to watch as the pillow flies through the air at Eren. He lets out a sharp yelp as he rolls off the couch to dodge the projectile.

"Watch it or next time I'm not going to give you time to evade it," Mikasa calls back as she walks to the kitchen. Eren stands up, dusting himself off casually as though he didn't just have a near-death experience with a weaponized pillow. I hum as though I witnessed none of it and pick up my glass of water and sip some of it before placing it back.

Eren sits back down as he comments, "You drink water like it's a fine wine Armin, it's water just drink it." I roll my eyes at his words. I don't just drink water like it's a fine wine. I drink everything like it's a fine wine. I don't gulp anything down. Eren, on the other hand, will drink anything like his life depends on it, making it disappear in moments.

"He knows how to savor things, Eren," Mikasa says as she walks back in with a third glass of water to add to the table. "Unlike you, he doesn't rush through things."

"I binge through one show and suddenly you won't get off my back about not taking my time with things." Eren rolls his eyes. He then continues with, "You know I savor things plenty for the amount of time I have them, just because it's quick doesn't mean it's not appreciated."

"Yeah, but you could appreciate it just as much for longer if you don't rush it." Mikasa's voice is as matter of fact as ever. I blink in wonder for a moment. A thought scratching at the back of my head but I push it aside and look at Eren, expecting him to try and have the final word in the talk but he just waves a dismissive hand as he starts scrolling through channels again. Mikasa just rolls her eyes as she sits in the middle of the couch and sips from her water for a couple of seconds before setting it down with the other two glasses.

I try to focus back on my phone but despite myself, I keep looking over at Mikasa. I don't understand why, and I hardly even understand since when I've looked at her this much. Am I just noticing it because of last night? Have I always stolen glances at her? No, I couldn't have, I would have noticed. I'm keen on small details and I imagine stealing glances at Mikasa would be a bit bigger than a simple small detail, especially when it's my own eyesight. Though thinking about it now, when I'm daydreaming I hardly recognize what I'm looking at or for how long. I could only just now be aware of it, it's not that outrageous. It might explain why I-

"Armin?" Mikasa looks at me curiously and I jump in my skin a bit.

"Wha- huh?" I stumble my words out in shock. She caught me looking at her. I'm sure of it. Damnit!

"You okay there?" She asks with an eyebrow raised at me.

I look over at Eren who's still in his own world. Though in all honesty, I question just how in that world he is, I may be giving him more credit than he deserves but I worry he might full well be listening in on us. "I'm fine. No worries, just spacing out." I offer her a small smile as I grab my drink and sip from it, trying to distract myself.

I hear a faint 'Oh' and I quickly glance over to see her face fall for a moment before focusing on the TV. I feel myself tense up. Was that the wrong thing to say? Should I have been honest with her? Maybe Eren isn't listening and I should have told her what I was thinking? Wait, what was I even thinking anyways? It's too late now though, so it's no use fussing over it. I can try talking to her on the bus, maybe I can figure things out then. It's plenty of time to talk about this after all. I might also be able to get some questions in regarding last night.

It's not a long wait before I hear Carla come down and wordlessly go into the kitchen. If my guess is right Grisha is probably still working at the hospital. It's not unusual for him to need to stay for what I feel like are unnecessary amounts of time. He needs sleep like any other human being I imagine. Unless he's actually a robot and Eren's been keeping it a secret that his parents are actually androids. That would be a unique change of pace from the everyday.

* * *

Time passes quickly, Eren complains about having to go to school, Mikasa scolds him, Carla scolds him, Carla serves us all breakfast, I never chirp a word beyond 'Thank you' when Carla gives me a plate of food. I hardly even recognize the passage of time as I find myself abruptly pulled up off the couch by a soft yet firm grip on my wrist.

"Armin come on!" Mikasa says as she drags me to the door. I shake my head awake and look around, gathering myself back together before realizing what's going on again. I pull myself from her grip when we're at the door and I run back to the couch to grab my bag and run back.

I slip my shoes on at the door, Mikasa standing outside already. I look over and she's waving at the bus that is idling just outside. Damnit, was I that far gone? Wait, where's Eren? Is he already on the bus?

"Have a good day Armin!" Carla calls out as I step outside to join Mikasa. I wave behind me to Carla as she says, "Tell your grandfather that Grisha and I say hi!" She says with a merry voice. I smile to myself as Mikasa and I step onto the bus.

Instantly I'm a bit relieved that there's hardly anybody on, and those that are on are either asleep or too in their phones to care about the slight delay. We walk to the back and I take my seat at the window, and Mikasa sits beside me. I don't even need to hear Eren's faint snoring to know he's already passed out in his seat. I doubt that he gave much effort into helping Mikasa get me to wake up. Though considering how he tends to wake me up from my own thoughts I should be grateful that he didn't. The rate he's been waking me up I might end up deaf before grandpa.

"You ok, Armin?" I look over at Mikasa, who's looking at me a bit worriedly. It sends a pang into my chest for a reason I cannot really comprehend. I shake the feeling quickly though and smile at her.

"I'm fine, Mikasa." My words are the truth, I certainly feel and I imagine I look fine. It's not uncommon for me to space out after all.

She raises an eyebrow at me and I raise one back. "You've been spacing out a lot more than usual is all. I know you've done it before but you've been doing it more than usual is all." I offer her a shrug, and I really don't know what to say on the subject.

I'm silent for a moment before responding, "It's probably just the stress of the new year. I space out more when I'm nervous you know that." I hope she knows that, because I didn't even know it until I just said it. It's not an outlandish statement, it makes sense, I doubt that she'll get on my case with that answer.

"If you say so, just don't hide things if something is wrong." She looks at me expectantly, and when I nod in confirmation she gives a faint smile.

"Mikasa, uhm," I fumble out my words. Trying to think quickly, how I wanted to talk to her about last night. Though thinking about it now I have no clue what it is I want to say. She's looking at me expectantly again, and this only makes me more nervous and confused about how words work. "I... was uhm... just wanted to... I..." If I had heard myself talking like this without any context I'd probably think I was having a stroke. Judging by the confusion on Mikasa's face she probably is thinking the same thing. "I just... want to ask about last night..." I finally articulate and let out a sigh in my head. That was harder than it should have been. Conversations go much more smoothly in the mind than in open air.

I watch her expression soften a bit. It's a startling sight coming from the girl with the most cold and hardened exterior I've known since elementary school. I hardly even register her hand between us taking my own, clasping them together between us so that even if Eren were to look over it would be hidden still. Her voice is hushed so only I can hear her as she says, "If the question is if you just daydreamed it happening I'll tell you now that if you did, I had the same daydream going on."

I chuckle a bit, though it comes out a bit more nervously than I intended. Mikasa doesn't seem to pick up on it though as she smiles lightly at me, at least I don't think she picks up on it. "It's more... along the lines of why?"

Mikasa raises an eyebrow at me. Then her eyes narrow in thought, squinting at nothing in particular. "I don't know." At that I feel a bit of a slap to the face. If she doesn't know how on earth am I supposed to know? "It's just something that I wanted to do. Like you told me, take chances on what you want even if they end up failing."

"You know I didn't expect what you wanted was to kiss me." I chuckle a little and she does the same. When she stops chuckling to speak though I find that I kind of miss the sound of her laughter.

"And I didn't expect you to go in for a second one." She says, and I believe I see her face redden a bit before it's covered by her scarf. The sight of her blushing is one that I want to... no, need to see more of. I don't know why but it's such a sweet image I can't help but want to see it more. Though in the midst of that thought her words finally register in my head. I went in for a second kiss last night! Now I feel my own face reddening with heat and I can understand exactly why Mikasa uses her scarf to cover it. I pull up the collar of my shirt and try hiding half my face in it, it's not nearly as convenient or stylish as Mikasa using her scarf but I have no alternatives.

I hear her soft chuckle muffled under her scarf, her fingers lacing around my own in the hand that she still has a firm yet gentle grip on. I look at her curiously and her face is still mostly covered in her scarf so I don't have much to work with in terms of getting a read on her. "Do you regret it?" She suddenly asks and I'm taken off guard. My eyes widening slightly in shock at her question. The thought of regretting it never crossed my mind. Her eyes are on mine, and I can tell she's serious by the look she has.

"Not at all," I say, somewhat surprised by how steady my voice is when I say it. I smile at her, and despite the scarf covering her mouth I know that she is too. "I just was taken by surprise is all." I admit. My free hand rubbing the back of my head.

I feel her thumb lightly circling on the back of my hand, it's relaxing, not just the motion but her touch as a whole. It's weird thinking about how these relaxing touches are coming from the same hand that can knock out a high school senior in one punch. Thankfully it happened outside of school and there were plenty of witnesses to say that he was the antagonizer and Mikasa was just defending me. Eren tried to step in first, but he was quickly made unconscious before he could make any sort of headway in defending me. Thinking back on those times it always seemed to me that Mikasa was stepping in for Eren more than for me. I doubt it was purely for me of course, but the idea that it wasn't just Eren that fueled her to get involved is still a new idea. "I hope you don't mind keeping this between us. For now at least." I look at her curiously.

"Why do you want to keep it a secret?" I can't help but ask, it's odd for her to want to be secretive, she's always been so straightforward. The idea of her wanting to keep a secret was an unheard of idea until just yesterday.

"I know that Eren won't be fond of the idea of us." She lightly runs her thumb up and down the back of my hand as she speaks. "I know for a fact that if word of it gets to anybody that isn't just us, he'll find out sooner or later." I would argue that it's not that likely, but that would be outright lying.

I nod to her and I have to fight the urge to kiss her, it's a sudden urge and I don't know where it came from but I hold still when it does come up. I think she sees this because she giggles softly into her scarf at the sight and in all honesty, just hearing that soothes the desire down. "When did you start liking me?" I ask slowly. Our voices still soft whispers between us. I vaguely recognize the sounds of the bus filling up now and then, but nobody is very talkative in mornings, it's too early to be social.

"I'm not sure, honestly. I'd tell you if I knew myself but I guess it's kind of always been there in one form or another." I raise an eyebrow at her, not really following what said forms could be. "Helping you with school, playing with you and Eren, interfering with bullies. It's been there a long time, I only just recently started to figure it out I guess."

"So you kissed me on a hunch then?" I ask with a small grin.

"It was a bit more than a hunch by that point." She returns a playful smile as she drops her scarf down a bit with her free hand. "It worked out didn't it?" One of her eyebrows quirks up.

"Something like that." I respond, casting a quick glance around, making sure that nobody could see what I'm about to do. Once I'm certain of it, I lean in and press my lips to hers for just a small second, before pulling back with a confident grin, watching as Mikasa reddens once again and pulls up her scarf to hide it.

"For such a sensitive and caring guy you're unnaturally cruel." She mumbles into her scarf, looking away a little, though she still holds my hand in her grip, her thumb still tracing circles on the back of it.

"You aren't complaining are you?" I ask with a small grin as I start to return her idle thumb movements on the back of her hand now.

"Not yet," She says softly. "Just stay smart about it." I nod with a smile, though it drops when I feel her hand leave mine, and I know she notices when she explains, "I'm grabbing my headphones. I'd like to get in a small nap like everyone else before we arrive." I nod, and subsequently realize that I still don't have my headphones, and I'm pretty sure Mikasa recalls that fact before I could as she holds out one of her buds for me. I smile at her as I take it and put it in. I'm a bit upset that she doesn't want to keep talking, but I can understand.

I curl up like I did yesterday on the ride back. I feel Mikasa shift in her seat and I look over to see her mimicking my position, and she grins at me as she puts in her bud. I smile at her and take her hand between us again, keeping it obscured between us as I close my eyes, relaxing back and resting to the sound of classical music.

* * *

I feel the bus jolt to a halt, and movement stirring throughout the bus. I groan a bit and slowly open my eyes to look around. It takes me a second to realize that Mikasa's hand is still in mine and in fear of Eren looking over at us I slip out of her grip. I hope she understands considering it's her wish to have us be inconspicuous with this. I look at her and she just grins a bit before swiping her earbud out of my ear and coiling it around her phone. I return the grin and look over at Eren who's fighting waking up, but inevitably stretches out in the seat and slowly gets up. I shake my head a little and look around the bus, everyone getting their bags on and shuffling slowly down the aisle and off the bus. Another of the numerous advantages of being at the back of the bus is being in no rush to get off since it's a slow process to even get out, let alone wait for everyone ahead of you to get out.

Eventually Eren shuffles out into the aisle and Mikasa and I follow him out. We're barely out the door when I feel the wind from the bus doors slamming shut swiftly behind me. I can't blame the driver to be fair, it's certainly not a glamorous job, and not one you'd want to stick around long for. Eren stretches his arms out into the air as we walk along the pathways towards the main building. "Can I skip math and sneak into class with you guys? I really don't want to deal with pre-algebra more than I have to." Eren looks over his shoulder at us, and my shoulders slump as I let out a sigh, and I'm pretty sure I hear the same response from Mikasa.

"Eren, it's only the second day. I don't know how you plan to graduate if you fail another math class and get held back." Mikasa's voice is passive but anyone who knows Mikasa will know that she's ready to snap Eren like a twig.

"Have you met your personal tutor yet? Or are you going to ditch that and wait for your father to see an F and start teaching you himself?" I look at him curiously, it's a bit of a joke, but that doesn't mean it won't come to reality if he's not smart about this, and with Eren, smart is a rare occurrence.

"Of course I've met her! You guys take everything so seriously." Eren rolls his eyes and crosses his arms, acting upset with us.

"You're right. We should know by now that you never take things seriously." I grin at him, but he only returns a glare.

"Eren, you're supposed to meet with her this morning aren't you?" I raise an eyebrow at this information from Mikasa. Was I informed that the tutor is a girl? Did I just forget, or was I daydreaming when I was told? Though to be fair it's possible that I just wasn't told at all.

"Yeah yeah, I'm going! You don't need to drag me yourself go have fun in try hard math." He waves us off as he leaves us, walking along a path to the school library building.

I think I hear Mikasa's eyes rolling as he leaves hastily. "He's walking faster, either he's really excited to do math, doubtful, or he's trying to ditch us as fast as he can." I grin at Mikasa as I continue walking to the main building of the school. Three buildings in total make up the school, the library building which also houses the study halls and tutor offices, the main building where all the classes occur, and the gym, which here, has a full dedicated building and field. To say the least, sports are important to this school.

"He's just afraid that if he wastes time around me that I'll start beating some actual sense into him." Mikasa calmly states as she walks with me.

I raise an eyebrow cautiously at her. "Metaphorically? Right?" She just shrugs and I feel both safe and intimidated at the same time.

We walk through the halls together and it's not long before we're waiting outside our Algebra class. The teacher not present yet so the door is tragically locked. I silently hope that they'll be early like the English teacher. It's comforting to be early. I'd also rather not have to wait outside the class for fifteen minutes every other morning waiting for the teacher to arrive as the first bell rings. Punctuality is nice, but being early is a bit more nice.

"Armin?" I look over at Mikasa as she scrolls through her phone, from what I can tell looking through a calendar. "Is it alright if I drop by your place to get some studying in?" I raise an eyebrow at her and she grins a bit sheepishly. "It will be easier for me to study with someone in the same class rather than being stuck with Eren is all." That's a fair point.

"I'm sure grandpa will have no trouble with you visiting now and then to study." I answer, and she nods a bit, looking up at me now with a smile. I don't know if it's her or some kind of warning sign of a heart attack but anytime she smiles it seems to cause strain on my innards. I should probably get it checked out.

She returns her attention down to her phone and I look away, not wanting to unintentionally invade her privacy by continuing to look at her phone absentmindedly. Not to say I'm not curious about what she's doing. Why am I curious? I don't know really. It's one of those curiosities that will most definitely end in the cat getting skinned though so I avoid spying with all my heart. It's a couple minutes of silence before I see the teacher coming down the hall, humming to himself, seeming to be oblivious of Mikasa and I standing at the door of his room. I open my mouth to greet him, but he just walks right past both of us and unlocks the door and walks in.

Mikasa and I watch him, my mouth still open with a greeting hanging at the tip of my tongue ready to jump out and plummet to the ground with nobody to receive it. Mikasa looks back at me and grins at my expression and I shake my head and walk in first, my ears faintly picking up her chuckling at me. I feel my face turn a light shade of red and I avoid looking at her or Mr. Pixis as I take my seat, though Mikasa definitely sees it as she sits next to me, because I can hear her chuckling more into her scarf.

After a minute of cooling off my face should be back to it's natural pale coloration. I look over at Mr. Pixis as he drinks from a large water bottle. while it is meant for water, nobody believes that it's actually water inside. Rumor has it that he just uses it as a cover for alcohol drinking in school, but he's never actually been caught for it. Somehow he just seems to know when he's getting checked on and brings water instead, but the entire rest of the time it's clear to everyone, at least from what I hear, that it's definitely not water nine times out of ten. They've even tried breathalyzing him by surprise and he was completely clean. Some rumors say that the campus security officer who had that idea wept when he heard it failed. It's some kind of game to Pixis I guess, seeing how long he can get away with it and outpace the school from getting any actual evidence on him. Besides the drinking problem that he likely has, he's an older man who's lost most of his hair, and has more than enough wrinkles to replace the lost hair. On top of all of this he's also the head of the math department.

I'm snapped from my analysis of Pixis when I hear struggling outside the door. Pixis spins his chair around to face his back to it as he drinks his 'water' in peace. I squint a bit at the door, recognizing the voices, until I see Historia dragging herself in, with Ymir clung onto her like a stubborn tick. Not to call Ymir a tick, or blood sucker of any kind, she's just really stuck on Historia right now.

"Ymir! Let go already!" Historia pleads as she continues to drag her into the class unwillingly and towards her desk.

"I don't want to go to claaaassss," Ymir retorts, and I cover my mouth to hide a grin. Mikasa out of the corner of my eye covering her face with her scarf. "Let me stay a bit longer! At least until the bell rings?" It's hard imagining the fact that Ymir had a reputation for being the third coldest girl in our year back when we all first met, right behind Mikasa in first and Annie in second. Thinking on it I find it hard to see Mikasa as cold at all anymore. Regardless though, Ymir without Historia is terrifying and harsh, Ymir with Historia on the other hand is the most soft and agreeable person you'll ever meet. I don't think people with Dissociative Identity Disorder can pull off 180s as strong as Ymir's.

"Fine! Just let go of me already!" At that, Ymir lets go immediately and follows Historia to her seat behind me and then takes the seat behind Mikasa.

Historia buries her head into her hands in embarrassment, which is followed by Ymir saying, "Oh hey guys. Didn't see ya there." With a casual voice that forces a snort from me. It's like she didn't even realize Mikasa and I existed, which seems to provoke a groan from Historia as she buries her face deeper into her hands.

"You're insufferable." Historia mumbles into her hands, which Ymir recoils at in shock, or mock shock, I'm not quite sure.

"I'm the perfect amount of sufferable I'll have you know." Ymir retorts and everyone squints at her, not entirely sure what she thinks is a perfect amount of sufferable but knowing full well that she wasn't it.

"If you want to be a tolerable level of sufferable then don't cling to me like like I'm your only lifeline." I glance at Mr. Pixis out of the corner of my eye and he's happily humming to himself, making a point to not pay attention to us, which is probably in his best interest at the end of the day. Actually, he might be too drunk to really notice us considering the situation.

Before Ymir can try arguing the bell rings, and Historia points at the door expectantly, and Ymir frowns and sulks off out the door with her bag in tow.

"What do you see in her might I ask?" Mikasa raises an eyebrow at Historia.

Historia laughs awkwardly and scratches the back of her neck. "Sometimes I have to ask myself that too."

"Do you ever have an answer?" I ask, tilting my head curiously.

"Uhm..." That's all Mikasa and I need to hear to drop our heads exasperatedly. A nervous laugh coming from Historia.

I watch as people start filling up the room. Pulling out my notebook and textbook onto the desk. I look over at Mikasa now and then. Not really sure why I'm stealing so many glances at her. Was I like her? Always attracted to her in some form or another, just not fully aware of it? It makes sense. I'm not the best at emotions so it's again not a surprise that I wouldn't recognize it.

Eventually the second bell rings and class is supposed to begin, my pencil hovering over my notebook. Everyone's talking still as though second bell never rang. I squint and look at Mikasa, then Historia, who seem just as confused, then we all look at Mr. Pixis. His body limp at his desk, the only confirmation that he hasn't dropped dead on us is his snoring. My face falls onto my desk with a loud thud. I hear Historia and Mikasa snickering at my reaction to this, and I'd be laughing too I imagine if we weren't being denied our education by a napping elderly man.

* * *

Math never actually gets a class, and English goes by without anything happening. Mrs. Langnar is a bit of a fast talker, and I doubt that's going to make book discussions in the coming weeks very easy. Also being the supervisor of the student newspaper she's not all that excited about novels or anything that isn't modern events. I'd hate to see her teaching a history lesson. It would end up becoming a modern events class instead.

Biology has first lunch on the days where it's our third block, so Mikasa, Eren and I only stop by to drop off our bags before heading to the cafeteria. I bring my wallet along with me since I didn't have time to pack a lunch, and even if I wasn't daydreaming in the time that I could have, I wouldn't want to freeload off the Yaeger family. I do that enough as is I feel.

Cafeteria food is hit or miss. Sometimes it's actually quite good, other times you'd have better luck eating the paper plates than the actual food being offered. Luckily though there is a fridge with just fruits and vegetables as well as premade sandwiches in case worst comes to worst. Luckily though it seems the main dish for today is clam strips and fries. Which lucky for the students, is actually fresh, thanks to our close proximity to the coast the school spares us from the torment of frozen seafood that hasn't seen the light of day in months.

I order a plate of the clam strips and fries, and once it's served I walk towards the cash register, grabbing an apple along the way, and I glance over at the pizza bar. Every day there is always pizza available, cheese, pepperoni, and a variety pizza that changes. I never touch it, because I tried it once, and that's as many times as I needed to figure out that it was more than likely just plastic that had sauce and cheese lightly cooked on top of it with toppings put on as an after thought. I marvel at how spectacularly they fail to make simple pizza. Yet people still buy it, I'll need to ask some people if it's just a last resort for nutrients or if they actually like it. I set down my plate and apple on a tray and take the tray to the cash register, setting it down and pulling out my wallet, handing five dollars to the lunch lady on register duty, who takes it, looks over my tray to make sure I'm not cloaking some hidden food I guess, and then waves me off.

I walk to the table that everyone seems to have congregated at. Mikasa, Eren, Historia, Ymir, Jean, Marco, Connie, Sasha, Bertholdt, Reiner and Annie. I still find it weird that we all seem to hang around each other whenever possible, despite being split between Eren and Jean half the time. To give them credit though they tolerate each other for everyone else's sake nowadays so it's not that surprising. We are all from the same middle school after all so we've known each other more than a fair amount of time.

I sit on the end of the table, Mikasa on my right with Eren on the other side of her, followed by Historia, Ymir and lastly Sasha. Across from me is Jean, then going down the line again is Bertholdt, Annie, Reiner, Marco and Connie at the end. There are some small conversations in pairs or trios all around the table, which is no surprise, though I don't really pick up on them as I eat. What I do pick up on though is how pointedly quiet Eren, Mikasa and Jean are. It's hard to miss though, considering I can almost feel the tension waves bouncing back and forth between Eren and Jean. I look between them, neither of them seeming to make contact, but they seem to just passively give off this negative aura towards each other. You could probably find a way to power an entire state with the negative energy going between these two.

I look at Mikasa, hopeful that she'll have insight and she shakes her head at me as though to say 'Don't bother.' Advice that I swiftly heed as I return to my food in peace.

Not much conversation goes on that I pick up on or care for really until I hear Annie speaking. "So how'd math go Yaeger?" I squint in confusion and look up, Mikasa also looking up in confusion.

"Fine. Not much to report on really. Just boring basics." Eren explains, seeming to not pick up on Mikasa's or my confusion at why Annie is asking about his math class. A couple other faces look on in confusion. It was known by nearly everyone from middle school that Eren sucks at math and he's having to retake the lowest level math class this semester, but why Annie cares seems to be a widespread mystery.

Annie seems to pick up on the looks that are directed at them first and looks around. Then explains rather nonchalantly, "I'm Eren's tutor for math." Eren just nods as though confirming her words. Everyone nods in understanding, except Mikasa. Mikasa is glaring at Annie with the intention to start shooting daggers out of her eyes I think. I'm not sure if it's just my imagination or not but I think I hear something snap inside Mikasa. If it wasn't real it certainly wouldn't be an understatement though.

Before she even has the opportunity to do something, I pick up my apple with my left hand and reach under the table with my right, taking her hand in mine. It's a small gamble of my much beloved arm. If it works out she'll calm down, if it doesn't my right arm becomes a bludgeoning device for Mikasa to use against Annie. I bite into my apple calmly, trying to make it seem that I'm not focused on my actual mission at hand to calm Mikasa by taking her hand. When I do have her hand in my grasp I give it a small squeeze, and Mikasa tenses in surprise, and I feel her turn to look at me. I start slowly circling my thumb on the back of her hand like she did with me. Not looking at her, despite the desire I certainly have to do so.

I feel her calming down quickly, and thankfully nobody noticed her volcanic eruption on the brink to begin with. All's well that ends well. She returns the squeeze and holds my hand under the table silently, before slowly letting go and returning to her packed lunch for the last couple minutes of lunch. I'm not quite sure why Mikasa got so close to blowing up because Annie is Eren's tutor. I shake the thought to return another time.

I hardly interact in any of the conversations, mostly because they're too far to really participate in and I have to talk over the barrier of negative energy formed between Eren and Jean. Eventually though lunch is over and we all clean up and make our way back to the classroom, where Ms. Hange is excitedly waiting to start discussing our first dissection. Which won't be happening for about two months. So I'm unsure what she's so excited for when it's not happening anytime soon.

Class passes quickly and it's a second notebook that goes unfilled because nothing was actually achieved beyond convincing Ms. Hange we need to learn actual lessons before we can do the dissection she's so excited for. I wave goodbye to Eren and Mikasa as they turn off to go to their classes, while I end up walking with Jean to Creative Writing. It's silent. He doesn't say anything and neither do I. I'm fine with it, silence isn't bad, I prefer it really. I wouldn't really know what to say to him if he did want to talk. Regardless of his quarrels with Eren, or vice versa, I like Jean. He's smart, and not that bad of a person when you get to know him. He seemed to be greedy and overly proud back when we first met in middle school, he still is a bit, but he's more than that. It's taught me to look deeper into people, that there's always something more to people than what we see. Bit of a children's show revelation sure, but it's a true one.

"Armin," I jump at the voice and look at Jean in shock. He's talking to me? I'm either in trouble or Eren's in trouble, one of the two are the only possible reasons he'd talk to me. "I was wondering, why are you in Creative Writing? I always took you for the science and math nerd, not a writer type." He explains his question and I raise an eyebrow. So neither Eren or I are in trouble, yet at least.

"Oh!" I chirp in response, before answering the question, my body relaxing as I now know I'm in no, immediate, danger. "I like writing just as much as I like science. It's a bit of a pass time." He nods, understanding. "I tend to write all kinds of things, but I've never really completed a story. I'm hoping this class will help me figure that part out." My explanation seems to be received and processed. I can't stop myself from asking in return, "What about you?" and I feel like I probably shouldn't have considering it's probably not in Jean's interest to explain his presence in the class.

"Just want to improve my writing." He actually answers, resulting in my eyes widening. "Maybe there's another reason. I'm still figuring it out myself so not much to say on it." He's nonchalant in his answering my question. Though the second part of his answer nags at me a bit. Usually Jean is very sure of himself and knows exactly what he wants, it's strange to see him unsure.

We both enter the class, which is a bit larger than it really needs to be considering how few people there are taking the class. Though it gives plenty of free space and allows students elbow room at tables. On the first day Jean was sat away from me, but he seems to follow along with me to sit at the same table as me, a couple seats down in fairness but I'm still surprised by his choice.

There's a couple minutes before second bell rings so I just take the time to get out a notebook and start idly writing in it. Practicing my handwriting. I'm slow in writing by hand and it's a bit larger than it should be, resulting in lines on paper getting taken up way faster than they should be. Jean watches me curiously. "Poor handwriting?" I flush a bit at his question, everyone thinks that because I'm smart I have perfect handwriting. It doesn't help that being left handed is hardly supported properly half the time. I nod at him and he holds up his left hand, pen in his fingers as he waves it around with a grin. "Same here." I'm open mouthed in surprise for a second. I had never really payed any attention to what other people wrote with, or how they wrote for that matter. So figuring out Jean is also left handed comes as a pleasant surprise.

I grin at him as I nod and return to practicing my own writing. Jean leans back in his chair, seeming to just enjoy the free silence while we wait on the teacher. Mr. Smith walks in and looks around the room. There's four people in total in the class today. My guess being that two people dropped out from yesterday. Leaving the room even more barren than it was on the first day. He nods, seeming to understand fully. He must be used to this if he's taught the class enough, I imagine that it's no surprise to him anymore. He gives a curt greeting as he goes to his desk and starts pulling out files from his desk. Sometimes teachers need to go to different rooms for classes that they're to teach, taking them away from their personal classroom.

I watch as he stands from his desk and walks around the room to greet the other students personally. I don't really pick up on the talks he has with the two anonymous students that I've never met, and really don't have much interest in meeting. Then he steps beside Jean and holds out his hand to shake, which Jean doesn't hesitate to receive. "Jean Kirchstein." Jean nods as though to confirm that yes he is in fact Jean. "Tell me, what is it you write?" He has a stoic look on him, which is kind of unnerving considering the simple and almost casual question.

That question though seems to stump Jean. He lets out a number of 'uhm's and 'ah's. He glances at me quickly, as though pleading for something. What? Then he looks at Mr. Smith and sighs. "Poetry." Oh. That's why he looked at me pleadingly. I don't see why he'd be embarrassed about poetry, sure it's not my kind of writing, too much symbolism and not enough story telling but it's not a sin to like poetry.

"I see." Mr. Smith responds as he taps his chin in thought. "Brave man to be honest about what you like. I look forward to reading your poetry." He nods to Jean who seems to deflate as the nervousness rushes out of him with that tension lifted as Mr. Smith walks to me now. He holds out his hand and I take it, shaking it firmly as he says "Armin Arlert." He sates my name, and it really isn't a question but I still nod as though I'm confirming his suspicion despite him just seeming to remember it perfectly from yesterday. I guess it makes sense with the small class. Though He obviously has two or possibly three other classes to teach on top of this one, so remembering all the names he's taken in just from yesterday would be an impressive achievement. "What do you write then?"

I roll the question around in my head. I figured I would be asked the same thing as Jean but it's still a curious question. "Anything I guess." Is all I can come up with. It's the truth honestly, I don't have much preference. Just anything but poetry, but I won't say that, especially after Jean came clean about liking poetry. I'd feel bad if I just bashed poetry after that.

"We'll find writing that you're passionate about I'm sure. I look forward to reading what you create, Arlert." The word create confuses me a bit. Most of the time a teacher uses terms like produce or provide, something mechanical in my experience, yet Mr. Smith is using what seems to be more creative language. It's actually quite interesting. He walks back to his desk and looks around at the four faces in the room. "Alright. Go ahead and start writing." He instructs and that's it. He pulls out papers and starts going through them at his desk. Seeming to leave us to our own devices at the drop of a hat.

Jean looks at me as though I have the answers, and I can only shrug in response and start writing in my notebook. Taking advantage of Mr. Smith's instruction for today and start writing. Out of the corner of my eye I see Jean slowly start doing the same.

* * *

Of the four classes I have, Creative Writing already has far more writing in it's notebook than in the other three classes combined. I doubt that that's going to change considering just how much writing I imagine will go on for Creative Writing, but it's still disheartening how little has gone on in my other classes.

I'm walking out of the room when Jean grabs my shoulder and asks, "Hey, Armin, can I talk to you?" Jean looks at me with what seems like hope, and I feel like saying no would just be a bit heartless, so I nod. He walks with me down the halls. "So you remember, well, how I said I'm still figuring out why else I joined Creative Writing?"

"Yeah." I answer simply. The halls are full to the brim with students trying to escape as soon as humanly possible. It's loud with people talking unnecessarily loudly. It's more than annoying enough for me to want to escape as soon as possible too. Though I keep pace with Jean who speaks with a level of voice that keeps the conversation between us and out of the ears of the other students.

"I wasn't wholly honest saying that. I want to tell you why but you have to promise to keep it between us. Only us."

I raise an eyebrow at Jean in confusion, and I can tell by his face that he's serious. Just what I need, another secret for the beginning of the semester. I sigh a bit before nodding. "It'll be safe with me Jean."

He lets out a sigh of his own, whether it's relief or to prepare himself to tell me the secret I don't know. He then looks at me and speaks low enough for just me to hear. "I joined creative writing because I want to write something for Marco." He says it quick and I have to double take on his words a few times.

Some of the gears click into place in my head. "Oh," I mumble a bit. More gears come into place. "Oh!" The puzzle set of gears are finally aligned. "O-" I can't finish the last oh as my mouth is covered by Jean's hand which results in a very muffled and long oooohh gettind drawn out. When I finish he rolls his eyes and takes his hand back, wiping it on his shirt. "Oh." I say softly, and I almost hear his eye twitch. I can't help but grin to myself. "Don't worry Jean. Secret's safe with me."

"I'm not telling you this because I need to get it off my chest or anything. I actually want your help with it." I go wide eyed. "To make sure that the language makes sense and help with grammar and form." Less of a shock than him wanting my help translating his emotions, that would be impossible, I can hardly understand or track my own. Then a thought pops into my head.

"I'll help you with it Jean, but, can I ask for some help in return?" He raises an eyebrow, evidently his interest has piqued at the idea of me having a return favor to request. I struggle to decide how to word it. "I'd like... Assuming you have experience... If you could help me, well, figure out how to ask someone out." The last couple words are rushed so fast I worry he probably didn't get the message but he seems shocked, which leads me to believe he most certainly heard correctly.

"Who?" He instantly asks and I flush every possible shade of red I think because he's snickering maniacally as my face turns into a heater. I shake my head and he snickers again. "Come on I trusted you with mine now you tell me yours." I groan a bit. Feeling backed into a corner.

"Give me your phone number." I groan a bit reluctantly, and he swiftly pulls out his phone with a smirk. "I'm not saying it anywhere where someone else could hear so I'll just keep it the most secure possible way between us." He rolls his eyes but doesn't lose the amusement on his face as he hands over his phone with his contact information on it, I pull out my own phone and type his number in and send a text, feeling his phone vibrate with my message I hand it back. "I'll message you the answer later. Regardless this will help me help you with your thing." Jean chuckles as he shakes his head at me.

"You're a real character Armin, never change." He says as he walks off in his own direction with that.

"Thanks?" I mumble in confusion to myself. I shake it off and walk to the buses, where Eren and Mikasa are already waiting for me.

"Armin!" Eren snaps and I feel my heart attempt to evacuate at the sudden yelling of my name when I walk up to them.

"I like my ears the way they are! Please stop trying to take them out!" I snap at him and he just snickers as he waves my annoyance off. If I had actual strength I would throw Eren out the bus window once it starts moving.

"Yeah yeah Armin, hurry up next time I can't handle all the conversation that Mikasa provides."

"What conversation?" Mikasa asks pointedly, knowing full well he was being sarcastic and she is more than strong enough to throw him out the bus window if she chooses to.

Lucky for Eren our bus pulls up and he flees onto it without hesitation. I roll my eyes and I hear Mikasa sigh in irritation. I walk on first so that she doesn't have to stand aside when we get to the back of the bus. I take my seat and she takes hers. Eren is in his own world already in his corner so I don't bother worrying about him. When Mikasa sits with me though I don't waste much time in taking her hand between us. She grins a bit at me. Taking my hand in return and I smile happily.

"Can I ask something?" I ask her and she raises an eyebrow, the only confirmation I really need with Mikasa. "Why were you so heated about Annie tutoring Eren?"

Mikasa looks over at Eren where he's already got his eyes closed and earbuds in. Then she looks at me again as she answers. "I don't know if you remember or not but Annie used to bully Eren in middle school. I remember." I go wide eyed, remembering in that instant. She used to beat up Eren and Eren went along with it calling it good practice. Everyone always joked that it was good practice for getting his ass kicked, but for some reason Eren always saw it as him getting better at fighting, which he really wasn't.

"You're worried that he's going to be getting the same practice as he did back in middle school?" I ask low, just in case Eren picks up on us talking somehow, which I doubt, but I can't help it. She shrugs, I guess that she's unsure what to think.

"Annie's a better person than she used to be. But I don't trust her, much less trust Eren to tell the truth." She explains, and I can understand what she means.

I rub my thumb up and down the back of her hand reassuringly. "He'll be fine. He doesn't need you to look out for everything in his life, at least not as much as he used to."

She grunts in amusement, shaking her head. I grin in success as I fold myself up, Mikasa slowly following my example and offers me one of her earbuds. I smile at her as I take it and she returns the smile.

* * *

The ride home is silent. At least between Mikasa and I. The rest of the bus is as loud as ever. That's something that will simply never change. When the bus stops outside Mikasa and Eren's home I've already pulled out the ear bud and hand it to Mikasa, who takes it without even looking. She stands up and stretches as Eren runs off already. I didn't even see him wake up. "He's scared I'll hit him like yesterday." Mikasa suggests. I can't help but laugh as I stand and take my bag, following her off the bus.

Once off Mikasa waves at me as I walk down the road a bit more, heading to grandpa's house. I know he'll make a scene of it when I get in. It's not new. He makes a scene anytime I get home from being away any amount of time. It's not as well kept as Eren's house, no fresh paint, not in the best of conditions structurally but it's still better than some of the houses I've seen. Grandpa is still working despite his age, something everyone urges him to drop for his health but he keeps chugging on, happy and healthy as ever. He works during the week, where as I work during the weekend. Simple job at a local spice shop, doing things from register duty to inventory checks. It's good for my schedule, I finish all my work during the week as it is, and homework over the weekend is easy to finish during lunch breaks.

I walk up the front porch steps and go to the door. I check the handle first and find it's unlocked, meaning he's definitely home. I sigh, preparing myself, then open the door as I walk in, calling out, "I'm home, grandpa!"


End file.
